


Monsters In Paris

by universeEnthusiast



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi, adrien and luka are monster bois and marinette is their begrudging sidekick slash caretake, and also kind of their tiny gf, no miraculous only ancient monster magic, shenanigans ensue, so this is based of lunian's curse au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-04
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-10-04 01:11:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17294831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universeEnthusiast/pseuds/universeEnthusiast
Summary: Adrien invites himself on Luka and Marinette's trip to the museum and breaks some ancient relics, cursing he and Luka to turn into monsters, and it's up to Marinette to make sure they aren't hunted down before they can find a way to fix the curse.





	1. Chapter 1

Marinette took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

It opened to Luka's chest and the Metallica t-shirt covering it. Marinette looked up.

"Hey, Marinette." Luka smiled down.

"When did you get so tall?" she pouted.

"About the same time you stopped growing." he teased gently.

Marinette stuck her tongue out and he stuck his out in reply, then reached down to hug her.

"Hey, Luka, who's at the door?" came a voice that sounded too familiar.

"Marinette," Luka replied, picking her up with no effort and spinning to show her inside.

"Marinette?" the voice seemed to perk. "Really?"

"As real as they come," Marinette twisted in Luka's arms to see the other occupant of the room.

Adrien Agreste beamed back.

"Adrien?" she gaped, which slowly morphed into a grin. "How are you? I haven't seen you since graduation!"

Luka put her down, and she turned, only to be grabbed immediately by her old classmate.

"Much better for seeing you!" he crooned, squeezing her tight.

"What are you even doing here?" Marinette asked Adrien, and then looked back to Luka.

"He's my new roommate." Luka shrugged. "Dennis graduated."

"And I'm studying theatrical arts!" Adrien informed proudly.

"Awesome!" Marinette said, and then gasped. "Wait, I'm in the arts for designing! We'll have some of the same classes!"

"Speaking of art," Luka beckoned, checking his phone. "You ready, Ma-Ma-Marinette?"

"Yes, I am!" she beamed, detaching from Adrien.

"Ready for what?" Adrien cocked his head and sat at his desk.

"I'm taking Marinette to the museum." Luka blushed and smiled. "Cause I know she loves it there."

"I sure do!" Marinette nodded and did a little bounce. "There's so much to see and do and…!"

She began to babble a little, and Adrien would love to have listened, but for some reason, all he could seem to notice was the expression on Luka's face.

The soft, low look in his eyes and the smile that grew wider as he watched Marinette do a happy wiggle, still gushing, sent an odd sensation along Adrien's skin.

"And, oh," Marinette shook her head happily. "It's the best place for design inspiration!"

"Well, c'mon then," Luka nodded his head toward the door. "Let's go get you inspired."

She giggled and turned to follow.

"Can I come?" Adrien blurted.

Both his companions seemed to baulk.

"Well, it's…" Marinette bit her lip. "Really more of a…"

"Marinette-and-me… type-thing," Luka looked away nervously.

"Oh, c'mon!" Adrien pressed, getting up off his desk chair. "The more the merrier!"

Luka and Marinette exchanged a glance that seemed more of a mutual apology than anything else.

"Uh, sssure," Luka said, almost painfully.

"Awesome!" Adrien beamed, grabbing his jacket. "Let's go!"

Adrien gestured to the door and followed his roommate and classmate out of it.

He had no idea why he wanted to go with them. Sure, the Louvre was a beautiful place full of beautiful things, but it wasn't like it was his favourite place to be.

It struck him as they reached the stairway, as Luka's hand brushed against Marinette's, and the smile fell from Adrien's face.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to go with them… it was that he didn't want them to be alone together.

Adrien suddenly didn't know how to feel about anything.

===

"Where to first?" Luka asked Marinette.

"Hmm," Marinette frowned at nothing in particular. "Old things."

"How old?" Luka smiled.

" _Old_ -old," she nodded.

"Alright then," Luka took out his directory pamphlet. "Old-old it is."

He pointed down a hallway and Marinette all but sprinted down it, and he beamed and took off after her.

Adrien, already feeling left out, pouted and followed.

"Left!" Luka called, and ahead of them, Marinette took a sharp turn.

It was afternoon during school time. The museum was fairly empty.

Except, it seemed, for a guided tour being taken through the huge hallways a long ways ahead of them.

"Door on the right!" Luka announced.

Marinette slowed to a halt and peeked into the room immediately to her right.

By the way she lit up, they'd reached something good.

Adrien and Luka made it to the door puffing and panting.

"Nice job." Luka clapped Adrien on the back and gave him a grin. "She can be hard to keep up with."

Marinette swayed and spun around the room, eyes darting around trying to look at everything at once, the biggest smile on her face.

"Easy, Marinette," Luka chuckled and walked over and put his hands on her arms, making her stop. "Slow down. One at a time."

"Right, yes, right," Marinette giggled and took a breath and went over to the front corner of the room.

This room was filled with glass boxes with many rusty and dirt-covered things inside.

"What is all this anyway?" Adrien raised an eyebrow.

" _Old stuff_ ," Marinette answered with a big grin.

"Looks like some old tools," Luka leant over Marinette's small frame and pointed at what might have been a very rusty knife. "Maybe some ceremonial stuff."

"Is this a bowl?" Adrien knelt down and peered at something that looked vaguely half-spherical and had chunks broken off.

"Yes, but the breakage is new," Marinette peered at it. "The edges of the cracks are cleaner than the rest of the bowl."

"Someone wasn't careful pulling it out of the dirt." Luka shook his head.

"Where is it from?" Marinette looked around the room. "I wanna know where."

"Poster by the door says South America." Luka pointed.

"Ooh," Marinette skipped over to it and began to read.

Luka took a sweeping look around the room and seemed to lock onto something in the corner, immediately making a beeline for it.

Adrien looked between them and followed Luka.

Luka was inspecting a vertical glass case full of many oddly shaped and sized objects.

"What are these?" Adrien asked.

"Instruments." Luka replied from where he squatted in front of a big cylindrical thing. "They're amazing."

"Really?" Adrien cocked his head. "These are instruments?"

"Yeah," his roommate nodded. "Nothing we know how to play, obviously, but there are like, flutes and pipes and drums."

Adrien took a closer look inside the case, at a little rounded lump with obvious holes in it.

"It's really cool that no matter where you look in the world," Luka stood up, smiling at the contents of the case. "Every early culture had some kind of music."

"I…" Adrien blinked, giving it some thought. "I guess that is really cool."

"Oh, look!" Marinette exclaimed from behind them. "Oh, aren't these carvings pretty?"

"Mmm," Luka came closer and gave a thoughtful look. "Not as pretty as you."

Marinette blinked at him and her cheeks went a little pink.

The exchange rubbed Adrien the wrong way. He stepped around to her other side and had a look.

Carvings of people of every shape and size, and of creatures that Adrien didn’t recognize.

"I wish I could imagine such wonderful things," Marinette shook her head.

"Your creativity is boundless, Mari," Adrien said, matter-of-factly. "Don't sell yourself short, there's nothing your lovely mind can't do."

He smiled smugly at her, and her blush deepened.

"Hey, check out these materials." Luka pointed at a box full of flat brown patches. "I… can't see the threads, goddamn."

"Oh, ancient handwoven fabrics were so sophisticated, it's mindblowing," Marinette slipped back into excited gushing, coming close to inspect them. "It's a shame we can't replicate it today."

Luka smiled at her, clearly finding joy in hers.

Despite the fact that Luka didn't seem to be paying him much attention at all, Adrien felt like his competition had just been upped.

"Who knows," he came close to Marinette. "Maybe you'll figure out how to make it again. Or, maybe you'll make something better. You're gonna be the biggest name in fashion one day, regardless."

Marinette giggled nervously. Adrien joined her and went to put his arm around her shoulders, but Luka smacked it away lightly before it got far.

"What was that for?" he asked, tone half-joking and half-offended.

"This is a museum," Luka replied matter-of-factly. "No touching the masterpieces."

Marinette squeaked and froze up.

"Sorry, Marinette, was that too much?" Luka backtracked.

Marinette slowly went a very pleasing shade of scarlet, not quite looking either of them in the eye.

"Adrien, come see the weapons." the black-and-blue haired boy nodded in the direction of a nearby case. "Give Marinette a little space."

Adrien followed his roommate to a case containing spears, shields, and swords.

"Why are we looking at weapons?" he asked quietly.

"I thought most guys liked weapons?" Luka replied, looking over his shoulder subtly at Marinette. "Do you not like 'em either?"

"I mean, I fence, but not because I like swords," Adrien inspected one of the shields.

"Why, then?" Luka frowned.

Adrien got caught in the colors on the shield, and then, just as he realised he'd been asked a question and had the chance to answer, he was interrupted.

"Oh, oh my goodness…" Marinette's voice sounded behind them, swooning softly at something. "Oh, these are _beautiful_ …"

Adrien and Luka turned to see her, standing near an open box atop an opened glass case, staring into it in wonder.

"Whatcha see, Ma-Ma-Marinette?" Luka stepped over.

"New finds, apparently." she looked to him briefly as he came up behind her and touched his hands to her waist. "Haven't been put into the displays yet."

Adrien came over, and, finding himself bothered by the casual contact but not wanting to seem hypocritical, turned his attention to the box.

Inside was a pile of tiny, carved animals.

"Oh, wow," Adrien reached in and picked one up.

It was a little cat. Or, perhaps, judging by the round ears, something a little bigger, like a panther.

"How cool!" he turned to his companions.

Marinette was wide eyed and had her hands over her mouth.

"Adrien, dude," Luka hissed, glancing at the doorway. "Put that down, right the fuck now."

"What? Why?" Adrien frowned, confused.

"That’s a priceless artefact," Marinette whispered in shock. "You have to put it back before something happens to it…"

" _Gently_." Luka added.

Adrien was usually a rational man, and he realised that playing with such valuable things was probably unwise, but since being allowed to go to school, Adrien had gotten used to sweet, delicious freedom - maybe _too_ used to it - and had begun to really, _really_ hate being told what to do.

And as a result, Adrien had a rebellious streak as long as the figure in his bank account.

"Pffft," Adrien rolled his eyes and tossed the little statue in one hand. "Nothing's going to happen to it."

Marinette flinched and Luka looked like he'd just been shot.

"Relax," Adrien scoffed, tossing it again.

"Adrien, put it down, before I make you." Luka warned. "You could get us in big trouble-"

"I won't get us in trouble, okay?" Adrien huffed. "It's fine."

And with a third little toss, the tiny statue hit his hand on an angle, bounced off his palm, and hit the box he had taken it from, knocking it over.

Marinette squeaked in distress.

A second little statue rolled out from the upturned box along the glass case, and both of them fell towards the floor.

Luka and Adrien moved at the same time, grabbing the statues at lightning speed.

For a moment, everything froze, and when all seemed fine, the boys let out their held breaths.

And then the statues disintegrated in their palms.

All three of them began to panic.

"Fuck..." Luka breathed, glancing between Marinette's hyperventilating form and the destroyed relic.

A hissing sound came from the little piles of ashes in their hands, and lights like fireworks sparked from them.

"WHAT THE-" Adrien yelped.

The lights, green in Adrien's hand and teal in Luka's, arced up off the remains of the statues and surrounded the boys, blinding all of them.

When the lights disappeared, so had the statue ashes, but nothing else seemed to be different.

An indistinct voice echoed down the hallway towards them.

"That’s the tour guide," Marinette breathed. "If he finds out what-"

"We need to get out of here." Adrien spoke quickly. "Walk, don't run, don't look at anyone, and don't say anything."

He glanced between his companions and made for the doorway, speedwalking.

Marinette and Luka followed close, making their way back to the entrance.

For a moment, Luka apologized to her with a look, and she took his hand to show she didn't hold it against him.

Just before they made it to the stairs, Adrien's vision blurred and he stopped dead, blinking and putting a hand to his head.

"Adrien?" Marinette whispered, coming forth to check on him.

He lost his balance, sweating furiously, and doubled over.

"Marinette…?" Luka asked weakly.

Marinette turned back to her other companion, only to find him in a similar state.

Adrien collapsed at her feet, writhing. Luka, too, fell over, and Marinette began to panic for what felt like the hundredth time in the last hour.

And then Adrien's eyes snapped open, and they were no longer normal.

They were the green eyes of a cat.

Marinette smacked her hands to her mouth and took a single step back as Adrien began to grow bigger, all of his skin darkening to grey-black. Fangs appeared in his mouth and black fur began to grow on every inch of him, and a long black tail sprouted from his behind. Claws grew out of his fingertips, and once he was perhaps twice as tall as he'd been before, two pointy black ears poked out from the top of his head. Oddly, the hair that had already been on his head stayed blonde. The transformation had destroyed his clothes and shoes.

A groan snapped Marinette's attention to Luka, who was in a different, but no better state.

Luka had also sprouted fangs and doubled in size like Adrien, but nothing else matched other than the wrecked clothes. Instead of fur, he was covered in scales of bright aqua and dark teal. His legs had disappeared, and in their place was a long, diamond-patterned snake tail. Luka's eyes, too, had changed, but instead of becoming green with slitted pupils like Adrien's, they had gone yellow.

Marinette was torn between reaching out to the boys and screaming and running for her life.

She didn't get time to choose.

"Ma… Marinette?" Adrien's voice sounded above her head. "What happened?"

She looked up to find him, a huge black beast, standing over her.

"Did you shrink?" the cat eyes squinted at her, and then he reached out.

The sight of his own big black clawed hands coming towards her made him start, and he looked about to scream, but she shushed him on instinct.

"Marinette?" Luka groaned, still holding his head. "Is everyone… oh, what the f-"

Marinette shushed him too.

He tried to sit up, but snake tails worked much differently than legs. Luka got up faster and more awkwardly than he'd bargained for, but didn't fall, his balance now apparently very good.

Luka and Adrien locked eyes and experienced matching existential and situational crises. Marinette, confused and scared, grabbed their wallets and phones off the floor from among the shredded clothes.

It may have been a crazy time for it, but Marinette had lost enough valuables to know now was as good a time as any.

A cry came from nearby, prompting all three of them to search for the source.

A security guard, having just arrived, stood in a nearby doorway, pointing in horror at the two monstrous boys and Marinette.

"We really need to get out of here!" Adrien begged through clenched teeth.

"I don't know how to move like th-th-this!" Luka hissed, and while watching his face, Marinette noticed a forked tongue affecting his words.

"Snakes have been moving with no limbs for millions of years!" Adrien replied incredulously. "You kept your arms, figure something out!"

"Guys, stop fighting, _please_!" Marinette pleaded. " _We need to GO_!"

They both looked down at her, and suddenly, alarms were going off through the entire museum.

Adrien growled and grabbed at his ears before looking up the stairwell at the entrance.

"Mademoiselle!" someone yelled at Marinette. "Get away from there!"

A group of security guards, weapons raised, approached.

"Sorry, Marinette," Adrien grimaced.

"For what?" she shook her head, confused and terrified.

"This might be a little rough." he replied, and grabbed her by the back of the shirt.

He lifted her off the ground and dropped her on his shoulders.

"Hold on." he said.

"What?!" Marinette yelped, struggling to get a decent seating position.

"Grab the fur and hold on." Adrien instructed.

Marinette grabbed two fistfuls of the black fluff, not sure whether to be disturbed or comforted by how soft it felt. And then Adrien turned and bounded up the staircase on all fours.

"HEY!" Luka yelled from below them.

"No, Luka!" Marinette cried and pulled on Adrien's fur before they reached the door. "We can't leave him there!"

"I can't carry him," Adrien shook his big head. "He needs to get up those stairs by himself."

"What if he can't?" Marinette argued, struggling atop his back. "They could hurt him, Adrien!"

An eruption of noise from below, shouts and yells and weapons clattering, and a large aqua-colored shape emerging from the stairs.

Luka passed them at an unexpected speed and squirmed his way out the human-sized doors.

"Looks like he figured out how to move," Adrien shared a glance with Marinette and followed, galloping on all fours to catch up.

And _move_ Luka did. It was a strange, flowing, bouncing movement, more like the dance move named after worms than any way Marinette had seen snakes travel.

Under any other circumstances, it might almost have been beautiful.

They made it halfway across the square before realising the public was panicking at their presence.

"We need to hide!" Marinette yelled over the clamoring people.

"Where?!" Luka demanded. "We’re huge!"

"PARK!" Adrien yelped. "Parks are empty after sunset, and they're full of trees!"

"This way, then!" Luka twisted down a new street, changing course immediately, taking an indirect route to the closest park he could think of.

They scared a lot of drivers and quite a few pedestrians, but made it to their destination without calling any serious attention to themselves.

Adrien skulked - something Marinette thought he shouldn't really have known how to do - over to a little nest of trees and bushes, and crouched down in the clearing there.

Luka followed, somehow coiling into a very neat, self-contained pile of snake, despite never having been one before.

"What now?" Adrien asked.

"We wait," Marinette swallowed.

"For what?" Luka gestured. "It may not be New York, but this city doesn't exactly sleep."

"Well, at least…" Marinette bit her lip. "At least until the fuzz stops looking for you. Then we have to get to the van and get back to our dorms."

" _That's_ your biggest concern right now!?" Adrien twisted his neck back to look at her.

"Once we're safe, we can figure this out better," Marinette dropped down off his shoulders. "We obviously can't stay out here long without you getting hurt or captured and taken away and… and who-knows-what."

She stepped over to Luka and touched the scales of his big, thick tail.

He looked down at her with an easing smile, and then seemed startled by something.

Luka began to shrink, and within seconds, he was a normal human being again.

And completely naked.

"OH, GOD!" Marinette gasped and smacked her hands over her eyes. "SORRY!"

"We come back without clothes?" Luka grumbled, curling into foetal position to cover up. "Man, those were my good jeans..."

"Well, what now?" Adrien asked again, sounding as though he was trying not to laugh.

"I have an idea," Marinette said. "Adrien, stay still."

She walked behind his big, black body, out of either of their sights, and took off the leggings under her skirt.

"Luka, put these on!" she called, tossing them in his general direction.

"Thank you, Marinette." Luka called back.

"You have to wear leggings." Adrien snickered.

"It’s a fuckin' emergency, man, have a little decency." Luka frowned.

Adrien cleared his throat.

"Do they fit?" Marinette called.

"Yeah," Luka replied. "They just… feel like long underwear."

"Good. Now," she walked back out. "Luka, go get the van and bring it back here. We'll put Adrien in the back and head home."

Luka nodded.

"Oh, keys," Marinette fished in her skirt's pockets and held out Luka's belongings. "Phone, wallet, keys."

"You had those?" Adrien, still a big furry monster, asked from behind them.

"I saved them from the scraps of your clothes before we got chased." she shrugged.

"You're amazing, Marinette." Luka smiled gratefully. "Alright, I'll be back in a bit."

Then he disappeared into the streets to find his van.

"Now what?" Adrien asked for the umpteenth time.

" _Now_ ," Marinette huffed and came to sit by his head. "We wait, we go home, and we hope we can figure this out."


	2. Chapter 2

Luka drove back to the park to find Adrien human again and asleep, and Marinette exhausted.

The drive back to the dorms was in a silence thick with anxiousness, broken sporadically by Adrien's random little sleep-mumbles.

Marinette walked them to their room and waved goodbye to go back to her own, and Luka dumped his unconscious bedmate on his bed, threw the sheet over him, and took a shower.

And then, confused, tired and stuck with that terrible feeling of unease in the back of his mind that came with situations such as these, Luka got into his own bed and tried to go to sleep.

===

Luka was woken by a heavy weight on his middle.

He groaned and opened his eyes.

"Shh, it's just me," Marinette manoeuvred her legs in from the window with a little difficulty and got on all fours above him.

"Oh, Marinette." Luka put a hand to his head and sat up.

"C'mon, get up, I gotta show you something," she smiled wide in the dark.

"Mm," he hummed and shifted up to sit and rub his eyes.

"You gotta see this." Marinette seated herself in his lap and took her phone out of the pocket of her pyjama pants.

"Ok, but, also," Luka, still sleepy, yawned and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her shoulder. "As much as I love having you over, you really shouldn't sneak in here without asking Adrien first."

She paused tapping at her phone screen to look at him with something like surprise and fear.

"I don't live with Dennis anymore." he mumbled. "This is Adrien's room now, too."

"If he wakes up, I'll ask him now," Marinette assured. "If he doesn't, I'll ask him later."

"Mmm," Luka smiled into the soft, warm skin of her shoulder. "Thank you."

"Sure don't wanna be banned from stealing into your room in the middle of the night." she said, and the tone betrayed the teasing smile she was sure to be wearing.

"Neither of us wants that," he nuzzled in her hair.

"Who's there?" Adrien's voice came, disoriented and grumbly. "Who said my name?"

"Just me," Marinette whispered in reply. "Marinette."

"Marinette?" his tone took a startled turn. "Why are you in here?"

"I sneak in sometimes, to see Luka," she said quietly. "But I can go if you don’t want me here."

A moment of silence that had them wondering if he'd gone back to sleep.

"You guys aren't…?" Adrien spoke like someone might kill him for asking. "…are you?"

"No! No, nono, no!" Luka and Marinette denied profusely at the same time.

"Clothes are all on, promise." Luka assured. "Well, Marinette's are…"

"I only come here when I'm sad," Marinette added. "Or, like right now, when something can't wait till morning."

"Oh," Adrien took a relieved breath. "What can't wait till morning?"

"You guys made it on the news," Marinette said, sounding as though she was stifling laughter.

" _What_?!" both boys snapped to attention.

"C'mere," Marinette beckoned.

Adrien gathered up his bedsheet and held it over his naked body as he got up and took the three steps to Luka's bed and sat down beside her.

A video was loaded up on the phone screen. Marinette pressed play.

[And in almost unbelievable news,] Nadja Chamack, the local reporter, spoke. [ _Monsters In Paris_. Earlier this evening, two enormous creatures were found in the lobby of the Louvre. Witnesses say the creatures killed and ate two young men and kidnapped a small girl, before breaking out the front entrance of the museum. No-one knows how they got in, where they came from, or where they went. Drivers and pedestrians report seeing the creatures travelling together at incredible speeds through the nearby streets, but the monsters have not been seen since. Authorities warn that these creatures are highly dangerous and should be tracked down and captured as soon as possible. If you have any information about these creatures, _or_ their victims, call -]

Marinette closed the video, snickering.

"What's so funny?" Luka asked, swallowing.

"Wasn't that _hilarious_?" she tittered.

"Actually, that was kind of scary, Mari," Adrien blinked into the darkness.

"Tracked down and captured…" Luka shuddered anxiously.

"They called you ' _dangerous_ '!" Marinette wheezed.

They looked at her between them, confused and offended.

"W-we can be dangerous," Adrien retorted, face heating up.

"Pffft, _please_ ," she giggled. "You're a couple of music nerds who barely leave your rooms."

"Just cause it's true doesn't mean you have to say it," Luka pouted quietly.

" _They said you ate people_!" she squeaked, squirming in supressed laughter.

Unwarranted thoughts sprung into both boys' minds at the words. Adrien nervously shifted the sheet in his lap.

" _No, no_ , answer me this, answer me this," Marinette choked out, swaying back, losing her balance. "Would you have eaten yourselves, or each other?!"

Luka snorted and chuckled, losing his resolve. He had to admit, that was a pretty funny question.

"They probably think we ate you, too," Adrien countered, but whether in jest or true argument, none of them were sure.

Marinette wheezed and fell back entirely, her legs kicking in the air. Luka gave a haphazard smile.

" ** _I wouldn't be big enough for both of you_**!" she wiped the tears from her eyes.

The way she'd phrased it had more thoughts creeping into the boys' brains. Marinette sat up, catching her breath and rubbing her eyes.

Their eyes fell along her bare shoulders, the thin fabric of her singlet, the low-sitting hem of her pyjama pants.

"On…" she gasped a bit, the laughter having winded her. "On a more serious note, it looks like they know nothing, and even got themselves on the _wrong_ track with the whole murder and kidnapping, so…"

Marinette looked to Luka, and her face fell from a smile to a fearful expression. A glance at Adrien had her flinching.

"Mari?" Adrien cocked his head. "Are you okay?"

"Your eyes…" Marinette looked between them over and over in fear, slowly shrinking.

Luka and Adrien took a look at one another, and Luka pulled the makeup mirror from his dresser behind him to look at himself. He handed it to Adrien with a pale face.

Adrien went wide eyed at the green cat pupils staring back at him from the mirror.

"Again?" he asked in distress. "Why?"

"I don’t know…" Marinette shook her head, curling into a self-protective ball. "I don't know what caused it the first time…"

Adrien's jaw fell open as sharp teeth popped out of his gums. Marinette shifted backwards, and Luka hugged her, watching on in silent horror as Adrien continued to transform before them.

" _How do we stop it_?!" Adrien begged, but they had no answer for him.

Within seconds he was the huge cat monster again, taking up half the tiny dorm room with his black-furred body.

Unfortunately, Luka wasn't far behind, and soon, Marinette was squished between them.

" _Moth-th-ther fuck_ ," Luka grumbled.

Marinette wriggled upwards, earning grunts and quiet yelps of pain and protest from the boys.

She came up near their faces and took a breath, shaking her head in disbelief.

"What are we going to do?" Adrien asked, face smushed against Luka's shoulder.

"I don't know." Marinette whispered. "I don't know."

"Alright, well, we should probably start by calming down." Luka huffed. "Noth-th-thing good comes from panicking."

"Well thanks, mister fortune cookie," Adrien snipped. "But I think this situation is just a little too far beyond the realm of normal for the same rules to apply."

Luka sighed and rolled his eyes, and then seemed to shrink down and turn back to normal immediately.

Adrien made a confused face and then he, too, began to shrink.

Marinette smacked her hands over her eyes.

After the boys did a little repositioning to hide their nakedness again, they exchanged confused and disgruntled glances.

"What the _fuck_ is going on?" Luka asked in frustration.

"I don't know." Adrien shook his head helplessly.

"But, I'll tell you what," Marinette said, hands still covering her eyes. "If we wanna find out, we're gonna have to go back to the museum, as soon as possible."

"Classes start tomorrow." Adrien shrugged apologetically. "I have three. I'll be too exhausted to go."

"I only have two, but not enough of a break in between." Marinette shook her head.

"I have none till Wednesday." Luka sighed. "Guess I'm going alone."

"We'll be here to hear what you find," Marinette assured. "And I can go Tuesday night if you don't find enough."

"Alright then." Luka shook his head. "Guess I'm going to the museum."

"And I'm going to bed." Marinette announced, turning to climb out the window… without removing the hands from her eyes.

One bonked head and an endearing noise of grumpiness later, Marinette clambered out to the very small ledge and began inching her way along the wall.

"Wait, where's she going?" Adrien stuck his head out the window and looked around.

"Her room is on the corner of the girl's building." Luka pointed out in a vaguely left direction. "It's like a thirty second shuffle across."

"Why don't you go over there?" Adrien asked him.

"Marinette comes here when she wants, and that’s enough for me." Luka shrugged. "I won't go into her space if she doesn't want me to."

Adrien didn't really understand that, but he leant further out to see where Marinette was going.

He saw her just in time to watch her duck under a stone decoration, moving quite gracefully, and found himself staring at her butt as she disappeared in her own window.

"She room alone?" he asked, almost not meaning to.

When no reply came, he looked over, and was met with an unimpressed up-and-down glance from Luka.

"What, does she room alone or not?"

"Go back to bed, Adrien."

"… Fine."

===

Luka took a deep breath. He was nervous about going back into the museum.

He'd accidentally destroyed a priceless artefact, turned into a monster, had his clothes ripped off and been threatened with bats and tazers.

And this time, he didn't even have Marinette to steady him, to speak for him when he couldn't, or to watch her enjoy things.

He wasn't confident, but he was going to go. He had to.

He walked through the doors and retraced their steps to the Ancient South American exhibit.

Luka peeked in.

Empty. A good sign.

He sidled over to the spot in the exhibit where the box had been.

The box, of course, was no longer there, but the contents were, in a glass cabinet.

Tiny statues like the ones he and Adrien had broken sat in a little row. There were perhaps ten including the missing two, which had noticeable empty spots in the lineup.

"Interested in the talismans?" came a voice.

Luka nearly jumped out of his skin.

A man older than him with round glasses, long hair and an outfit that looked like it had been put together in a thrift shop stood beside him. The nametag pinned to his pocket said 'Hello, My Name Is: Jalil'.

"Y-yeah," Luka stuttered. "I, uh… I wanna know more about 'em."

"Oh, well, I came just in time then!" Jalil gestured brightly. "These talismans come from a ruin deep in the Amazon. It seems they are older than any distinct South American civilization, but there were carvings in the place they were found that hold artistic signifiers from several separate cultures."

Luka wasn’t sure how useful that information was, but he took note of it anyway.

"This, of course, means that these talismans were created, or perhaps found, before the root peoples of the cultures of the area split into distinct groups." Jalil went on. "It's quite fascinating."

"Do you know what they were used for?" Luka asked.

The expression Jalil made at this question was one of surprise.

"I…" the museum employee looked over his shoulder, and then lowered his voice. "I have theories, but my father is insistent that they cannot be true, because he doesn’t believe in the evidence."

"What evidence?" Luka raised his eyebrow. "What's your theory?"

"Judging by the carvings on the walls where the talismans were found, these little statues are, or were, _magic_." Jalil whispered.

"Magic." Luka repeated, but it was hardly in disbelief.

"Yes," the older man seemed to light up. "These talismans gave humans the ability to transform into an animal, the same animal as the statue itself."

Luka squatted down and looked along the row.

"The ten we found were all of creatures native to the Amazon rainforest." Jalil pushed his glasses up his nose. "A monkey, a spider, a piranha, a snake, a bat, a dolphin, a black panther, a boar, a mouse, and a caiman."

"A caiman?" Luka frowned.

"A relative of the alligator." the other man waved dismissively.

"Okay," Luka looked up to him. "So how did the magic work?"

"The wall reliefs show that the statues were given to a human, and then disappeared in bursts of light."

 _Sounds about right_ , Luka thought.

"The human then switched back and forth between a natural form, and a monstrous animal form."

 _Yeah, cool, we got that_ , Luka chewed his lip. _Please skip to the end so we can get rid of them_.

"But I didn't get to study the walls enough to know much beyond that." Jalil shook his head.

"Shit." Luka murmured.

"I know," the older man pouted. "I wish I had had more time, perhaps even taken photographs of the walls to study further. I would have more information."

"Could you go back?" Luka tried. "Find out more?"

"Not without a generous donation." Jalil tisked. "The last donation wasn't much. It was exhausted just extracting these from the ruins and getting them back here to be studied. And a few tiny, mysterious statues arent very impressive to the kinds of people who fund archaeologists."

Luka looked at the row of talismans and gave a contemplative huff.

"Additionally," Jalil grumbled. "Two of the statues have gone missing, and that looks awful on the records."

"You don't say." Luka murmured.

"Actually," the older man mused. "Those two monsters spotted last night, here in the museum…"

"What about them?" Luka asked, looking up again.

"They were the animals of the two statues that went missing…" Jalil frowned into the middle distance, thinking hard. "What if they aren't monsters, but people who activated the talismans?"

"What does it mean if they are?" Luka swallowed.

"Well," Jalil shook his head, looking far away. "It means that we have a big mess on our hands."

Luka began to get nervous.

"So, is there anything else you can tell me about these?" he tried, one last time.

"Well, I have some notes and photographs of the expedition in my study that I can look over, if you'd like to come back tomorrow," Jalil offered, but it was clear his mind was somewhere else. "But, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to be somewhere."

And then he left.

Luka took out his phone and took a photo of the little statues, and then made the hastiest exit of the museum he'd ever made in his life.

It wasn't much, but what he had learned needed to be shared with Marinette and Adrien as quickly as possible.

===

"Magic." Adrien repeated, and Luka was hit with a little deja vu.

"Yeah." Luka nodded.

"That part was obvious." Marinette frowned from beside Adrien on the bed. "Did you learn anything else?"

"The guy said a lot of stuff, but it was all Greek to me." Luka shrugged.

"Jalil's family is Berber," Marinette informed.

"He was speaking French, I just mean…" Luka sighed and shook his head. "Nevermind. Look, here's what I got."

He handed them the phone with the photo of the little statues. Adrien and Marinette inspected them carefully.

"There are ten little magic statues, they're from the Amazon." Luka told them. "They make humans turn into animals. The dude I spoke to doesn’t know any more than that cause he has no money to go find out. He had some scraps he said he'd look over for me, so I should go back tomorrow, but other than that? Jack shit."

Adrien and Marinette exchanged glances.

"We should all go tomorrow." Marinette said.

"Mm." Adrien nodded. "Three heads are better than one."

"There's one more thing." Luka swallowed. "He figured us out."

"WHAT?" Marinette yelped.

"Not like, directly," Luka assured, putting his hands up in a calming gesture. "He doesn't know it's _us_ , specifically. But he guessed that the monsters on the news were whoever took the little statues."

"So we're gonna have to tread lightly." Adrien shook his head.

"And you _have_ to avoid transforming." Marinette said, chewing her lip.

"Yeah, no shit," Luka said gently. "If only we knew how they worked."

"Well, that's kinda the point of this, so, hopefully, we'll know soon." Adrien yawned. "But can we please go to sleep now? I'm beat."

"Right, yes," Marinette stood up and took the few steps to the door. "Call me if you need me."

And then she was gone, and the boys exchanged a glance.

They both went to sleep, but neither truly got any rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this ones a little shorter but tada! dont u think that im abandoning this fic
> 
> see yall soone


	3. Chapter 3

"So, Marinette didn't visit last night." Adrien commented, running a comb through his hair.

"No?" Luka frowned as he pulled a shirt on. "She told you. She only comes when she needs to."

"And what exactly do you _do_ when she needs you?" the blond prodded, looking himself over in the mirror.

"Listen to music together, usually." his roommate shrugged, sitting back down on his bed.

"Is that… _all_ you do?" Adrien asked, tone not the slightest bit subtle.

Luka made a face at him and he caught it in the reflection.

"Well?" Adrien turned to him.

"Yes." Luka frowned. "Why are you asking?"

"I'm just curious." the model shrugged with aggressive nonchalance. "A pretty girl we've both known for a good five years has a habit of crawling through your window in the middle of the night? Seems a little… _implicit_ to me."

"What are you getting at?" the musician huffed.

"I just want an answer," Adrien said innocently. "Are you dating?"

"No." Luka answered flatly.

"But you like her?"

"Everyone likes Marinette."

"That's not what I asked." Adrien crossed his arms smugly.

Luka's frown got more pronounced.

"How we are is none of your business." he said, putting his legs up on the bed, effectively blocking him out, and there was the slightest hint of warning in the way he'd said it.

"I see." the blond nodded, and turned back to the mirror.

"The fuck's that supposed to mean?" the black-and-blue haired man twisted to see him again.

"That's about all the answer I needed." Adrien shrugged coyly.

"What is your deal?" Luka demanded.

"You want Marinette, but she doesn't want you," the younger man said, picking up his bag. "It looks like she doesn't even know, and you clearly aren't making any moves."

His roommate's mouth fell open in potential argument as he watched him open the door to head to his class.

"And that's _all_ I wanted to know." Adrien winked, a wicked grin on his face as he closed the door behind him and strutted down the hall.

Luka was offended on several levels, but he also refused to pick a fight with Adrien for several reasons.

Instead, he growled and lay back and put in his headphones and put on the playlist he and Marinette listened to when they needed to blow off steam.

===

The day passed without incident, but all three companions were still on edge.

Marinette was wound so tight that when the boy sitting next to her in her Marketing lecture dropped a pen, the sound of it hitting the floor was enough to make her jump in her seat and bang her thighs on the edge of the desk.

The bruises looked nasty enough to warrant a quiet worried question from Luka on the way back to her room, so after assuring him, she changed into some jeans.

The drive to the museum dissipated the tension, only to replace it with a different set of anxieties.

Luka had no idea where to find Jalil, so the trio headed towards the same exhibit, hoping to at least sniff out another little detail or two before making a more time-consuming effort to find him.

Luck apparently felt bad for letting them get cursed, and blessed them.

They found Jalil frowning at the talismans in the display, holding a few papers in his hand. He seemed to be doing some kind of cross-referencing with whatever was on the papers.

"I'll be with you in one moment," Jalil said as they arrived, and uncapped a sharpie with his teeth to scrawl something on the papers.

"Take your time." Adrien offered.

The museum resident recapped the sharpie and stood up from his squat.

"Ah! You're back!" Jalil beamed at Luka. "Just in time. Oh, hello Marinette!"

"Hey, Jalil," Marinette waved. "How's Alix?"

"Back into nationals," Jalil answered brightly. "The runner ups got reshuffled."

"Wonderful!" she beamed. "So, we're here to catch up about yesterday?"

"Yes, yes," the man pushed his glasses up his nose. "Follow me."

He squeezed past them into the hall and walked them down towards the end.

Once he got to the corner, he pushed into a little alcove in the wall, where a heavy door sat, shrouded in shadow in the darkened museum. He swiped his lanyard.

The door beeped, and he opened it.

"Down the stairs," he ushered them through, looking around, as if what he was doing was suspicious.

Luka and Marinette exchanged a glance, uneasy. Adrien didn’t seem bothered by it.

"Door on the right," Jalil called down the stairs, and his voice was followed by a loud, metallic thud as the door closed.

They shuffled from the narrow hall into a bigger room. It felt distinctly older, and not in the least by the presence of a projector on a bench in the centre of the room.

"So," Jalil pushed past them and began to turn it on. "I have good news, and I have bad news."

"What's the good news?" Luka asked, swallowing.

"Well, last night, I searched the entire collection of photos from the talisman recovery expedition." Jalil brought up a slide on the screen. "The good news is that, from the backgrounds of the photos taken, I can tell you that the wall reliefs are entirely intact, and the remaining information about the talismans is there."

A photo of Jalil and another man in jungle-exploring gear holding up some of the talismans with gloves.

"Fantastic!" Marinette offered, then bit her lip, but Adrien beat her to what she'd been about to say.

"So… what's the bad news?" he questioned.

"Our photographer did in fact take photos of the reliefs." Jalil informed, but then shook his head. "Unfortunately, we lost one of the cameras in the jungle - and we now realize that was the camera with all the relief records."

Luka rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger in mellow frustration. Adrien pouted, and Marinette gritted her teeth and tried to stay calm.

"I attempted to reconstruct even legible images of the reliefs from all the partial images in the backgrounds," Jalil shook his head. "But there was not enough to work with."

"So is there _anything_ you can tell us?" Luka asked.

"Unless you happen to have a sizeable amount of money around to send me back with the express purpose of studying the reliefs," Jalil shrugged apologetically. "I'm sorry."

The trio exchanged distressed looks.

"Thank you, Jalil," Marinette sighed. "We'll let you be."

"No problem. Anything for the pursuit of knowledge!" Jalil beamed. "Let me unlock the door for you."

Once they got out the door, Marinette realised she had to do something before she left.

"I have to use the ladies' room," she told Luka. "I'll be right back."

"I'm gonna head out to the van then," he nodded. "It'll be ready to leave when you come out."

They headed in different directions down the hall, and with their attention no longer on him, Adrien saw his chance.

"Jalil," he called, and the man about to disappear into the heavy door paused.

"Can I help you with something?" Jalil asked.

"Actually, yeah," Adrien fell into his business manner. "I was wondering how much a new expedition to the same temple would need in terms of funds."

"Ah, well," Jalil considered. "For equipment, travel, accommodation, supplies… perhaps five hundred to seven hundred thousand euros?"

Adrien smiled.

"Monsieur Kubdel," he pulled out his phone. "I have to make a phone call, but if you could point me to where I can donate some funds to you while I'm on hold, it would be greatly appreciated."

"Of course, sir," Jalil lit up.

===

Marinette emerged from the bathroom to find no-one she recognized nearby, and made her way past the heavy door from before.

Hurrying down the hall was a very excited looking Jalil, arms laden with various stacks of papers.

"Ah, Marinette!" he called and waved. "If I could steal you a moment!"

"Of course!" she paused. "What's up?"

"Uh, well, per last night's conversation with your blue-haired companion," Jalil shuffled a lot of papers in his arms. "I surmised that the creatures currently loose in the city might be some poor souls who crossed paths with the two missing talismans."

"Oh?" Marinette played dumb.

"I asked security to find me all footage of the people that interacted with the statues," Jalil wagged a VHS. "We found them, but we can't tell who they are."

"What would you like _me_ to do?" Marinette cocked her head.

"They seem to be your age." he replied, handing her the tape. "And we all know that you're a friend to everyone your age."

She swallowed, but took it anyway.

"If you could look through this footage and see if you can identify them, anything about them at all," Jalil requested. "It might help us clean up this mess."

"Well, I…" she nodded haphazardly, thinking quickly. "I can look at it, but it'll have to be later. I'm very busy with school at the moment, you see..."

"Of course, when you can," her friend's brother opened the heavy door. "Time may be of the essence though."

"I'll do my best." Marinette promised.

"Thank you, Marinette!" Jalil waved and went on his way down the stairs.

Marinette's hands shook around the tape.

"And be careful with that tape!" Jalil called from halfway down the stairs. "It's the only copy of the footage we have!"

And with that in mind, Marinette hurried out of the museum and toward the van.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so a note on adrien's behaviour in this fic - since its a no miraculous au, adrien hasn't made his 'adrien' and his 'chat' traits into seperate personas, but instead he shows those possessive/stubborn/teasing/flirty/cunning traits when he feels like there will be no consequences for his actions. he isnt invulnerable, but he likes to feel like he is sometimes, and thats why hes Like That in this fic
> 
> anyways i hope u enjoy n see u next time


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uhhh warning for a brief discussion about law-breaking, and description of the instinct to kill and eat prey.
> 
> take a moment or click away if either of these things may be harmful to you.
> 
> be safe peeps

Adrien would, in time, get used to not sleeping properly for curse reasons, but that time was not now.

And Luka… well, Luka was already used to not sleeping well.

Tonight, they were woken by the thud of their room door closing, and the lamp right next to it, at the head of Adrien's bed, being turned on.

Luka squinted and pulled his blanket up in self-consciousness, and Adrien groaned in annoyance.

"Get up." Marinette told them, something strange in her voice, but gently all the same.

Luka sat up and turned to her obediently.

Adrien grumbled and scowled in the light.

"What's up, Mari?" he croaked, voice weak from being freshly woken.

"Jalil gave me this." Marinette, in her pyjamas, held up a tape.

"A VHS?" Luka squinted.

"Security footage." she frowned down at it, and tapped it lightly to her palm with slow rhythm, as if thoughtful. "He asked me to identify the people who got cursed."

The boys immediately snapped to attention.

"Well… did you?" Adrien swallowed.

"It's definitely obvious that it's you two." Marinette sighed. "I watched the whole thing. There are a couple of shots that could give you away to anyone who's looked at you for more than five minutes."

"Did you tell him?" Luka asked quietly.

"Nope." she replied, halting her toying with the tape. "There's no way we're telling anyone anything until we fix this."

That put the roommates a smidge more at ease.

"But Jalil knows me." Marinette spoke softly. "He knows I know everyone our age, and most of their families. He won't believe me if I say I don't recognize the people in the footage."

Luka and Adrien got nervous again.

"But… he also told me…" she took a steadying breath and held up the tape. "That this was the only copy of the footage. I don't know if he watched it, but it looked like he didn't suspect you during our meeting. Even if he watched it and didn't realize the first time, he can't be allowed to watch it again."

The boys exchanged a glance.

"So… what do we do?" Adrien asked, scared of the answer.

"Jalil knows me." Marinette repeated, voice low. "He knows I'm prone to clumsiness and accidents."

Luka and Adrien's eyes both widened.

Marinette raised the tape up high, and dropped it on the floor.

Luka's jaw dropped with it.

"Oops, I dropped it, how very silly of me," she said, as if in mocking tone, and stomped on it with her foot, cracking it in half. "Oh no. I stepped on it. I guess it's broken. Darn."

"Marinette," Adrien gaped. "You just destroyed evidence! That’s-"

"Illegal, I know." she swallowed, looking at the floor.

The boys exchanged another glance.

"But keeping you under the radar until we fix this is more important." Marinette picked up the broken tape, and snapped the reel inside.

Luka began groping around his bed, looking for a pair of shorts or something, but Marinette hadn't looked either of them in the face, so she didn't notice.

"I just… wanted to keep you updated, I guess." Marinette tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. "Sorry for waking you up."

She turned for the door, broken tape parts in hand, but Luka had found a pair of jeans and had pulled them on so he could stand up without making his friends uncomfortable.

"Marinette, wait!" he reached out for her, stumbling off the bed.

She paused, hand on the door, and turned back to him, mildly startled at his shirtlessness despite having seen him practically naked many times before.

"I… I know how much things being fair means to you." Luka touched his hand to her arm. "And I'm sorry we got you so deep in this mess that you feel like you have to break rules for us."

Marinette's shoulders fell in surprise.

"Thank you." he swallowed. "For sticking by us."

She blinked, and hugged him.

" _Someone's_ gotta take care of you dumbasses..." she teased weakly.

"I promise I'll make it up to you somehow, okay?" Luka hugged her tight. "I promise."

"Me too." Adrien said from his bed.

"Get us un-cursed," Marinette booped Luka's nose and looked to Adrien pointedly. "That'll be enough for me."

Then she yawned, tired, and Luka smiled and let her go.

"Head on back to your room." he said, voice soft.

"Yeah." she nodded, and opened the door. "Goodnight, guys."

"Night, Ma-Ma-Marinette." Luka stepped back to his bed.

"Sweet dreams, Mari." Adrien lay back down on his bed, hands on his face.

===

Adrien came back from his last class that day, expecting to take a shower and sit down to do homework.

Instead, he walked in on Luka sporting a green arm, and, understandably, baulked.

"Relax," Luka waved with the scaled arm. "I just couldn't find a pick."

He strummed his guitar demonstratively, then frowned and tuned one of the strings with his normal-looking hand.

"Thought the claws would make a good substitute."

Adrien from looking horrified to looking morbidly curious.

"How d'you…?" his hand sort of bobbed up from his side to weakly gesture at the arm.

"I just focussed," Luka shrugged. "Meditated, told the power to take my arm and nothing else, and… ta-da."

He played a little riff, his fingers dancing across the strings, and gave an innocent little smile, as if one of his arms was not covered in brightly colored scales.

"Uh-huh…" Adrien nodded, and, feeling something akin to haunted, went to freshen up.

The water was not loud enough to drown out the music Luka was playing. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, since he, Marinette and Luka all seemed to like the same kinds of music, but Adrien still felt strange about getting the urge to dance along to it mid-shower.

When he came out, Luka was silently inspecting his green arm, his guitar and amp packed away.

"Something wrong?" Adrien asked.

"I turned it on, but I can't turn it off." Luka frowned, and wagged the green arm a bit.

"How do we usually get rid of it?" Adrien asked.

Luka gave him a look.

"Right." Adrien nodded sourly. "Well, it goes away eventually, and it's just your arm, right?"

Luka sighed and nodded.

"I'm sure it'll be fine." the younger boy sat on his bed and pulled his bag up to get his homework out.

===

When he awoke the next morning, the first thing he did was check Luka's arm was normal again.

However, since Luka slept on his side, Adrien's only idea of how to do so was to poke his roommate until he rolled over for a clear view… apparently.

With a single finger, he hesitantly booped Luka's cheek, and retracted immediately.

Luka didn't stir.

Adrien poked his jaw instead, then gently poked at his neck, too.

Luka made a little noise of protest and rolled over.

Ignoring the way the tiny mumble had made his heart skip a beat, Adrien craned his neck over to check the now visible arm.

No aqua scales, no black claws.

Only smooth, lightly-tanned human skin.

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief and set about getting ready for the day.

Their first class that morning was one they took together, so Luka's alarm went off shortly after Adrien had prodded him into rolling over.

He made another grumble as he awoke, and this noise made Adrien's heart skip another beat.

"Morning." the blonde said, trying to be cheery. "Ready for music history?"

Luka's response was to groan very loudly in frustration and flop back in bed.

===

It was a bright, sunny day, which Luka was highly conflicted over.

Some mysterious part of him was enjoying the warmth, but he knew it his eyes that were dissenting to the brightness of the sun.

"We're gonna pass Marinette," Adrien said in hushed tone. "Let's have some fun with her."

Luka squinted at him, only in part because of the broad daylight assaulting his corneas.

"Flash your monster eyes at her when we pass." the blonde grinned. "It'll be fun."

"I really don't think we should be playing around with the monster stuff." his roommate grumbled.

"You did it to play guitar, you can do it to mess with Marinette." Adrien teased. "Come on, we're almost there."

At the mention that Marinette was close, Luka immediately searched for her.

She sat at a lunch bench with Alya, no doubt discussing their shared Commercial Marketing homework, and she was wearing the extremely cute dress that made his heart stop every time he saw her in it, and her little grey jacket, and she had the pink ribbons in her hair, and her makeup was just the right combination of shades that made the blue of her narrow eyes really pop, and-

And Luka was familiar with the expression 'so cute you could eat it all up', but he wasn’t sure the desire to sink his teeth into Marinette's neck and wait for her to stop squirming so he could swallow her whole was a normal one.

She just… looked so _tasty_ …

"Yes!" Adrien elbowed him. "No clue what you're going for with the drool, though."

Luka flinched, the jabbing arm jolting him back to reality, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and in the silver pendant on his bracelet, he caught the reflection of his eye. Yellow, with slitted pupils.

A glance at Adrien confirmed that the younger boy had also summoned his curse into his eyes.

They were only a few steps from her now.

"And three, two…" Adrien whispered, and then raised his voice again to call, casually as anything, "Morning, Marinette!"

The boys flashed her big grins, and their gazes lingered long enough to watch her to look up to them, waving, see the state of their eyes, blink in shock, and crush her mostly empty coffee cup in panic.

They kept walking as if they had not just scared the bejeezus out of her, and she slowly scowled and silently vowed to get them back for it.

Alya, beside her, wondered what had just happened.

"Should I ask…?" Alya raised an eyebrow.

"The boys are just… playing with me. No big deal." Marinette huffed and turned back to the homework. "Now. About this question on advertisements using controversy."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh whats this? are these, by any chance... EARLY ANIMAL INSTINCTS??
> 
> also the reason marinette didn't come through the window this time as because she had the tape and trying to climb across with it could have gotten her hurt, and she only wanted the tape to be in danger, not the tape AND HERSELF
> 
> sorry this took SO LONG its bc i have like six projects going at once rn. but i swear i am not abandoning this fic its too much fun
> 
> dont forget to leave questions and comments and see u next time


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for this chapter: a mean professor, staring classmates, mention of self-induced vomit, some young adults having non-explicitly described sex in a bathroom, a brief discussion of sex, a group of boys displaying sexually predatory behaviour, a large animal attacking someone, and murder-related intrusive thoughts.
> 
> as usual, click away or take a breath if you need, enjoy and stay safe bebs

"So, something we have to remember about musical history is that we don't know when it started." the professor, a balding man who brought his trumpet case to every class, paced back and forth in the lecture theatre.

' _Music begins before humans do, or perhaps began long before, if you're the kind who counts whales and birds as singers._ ' Luka mouthed the next sentence in perfect synchronization with him, rolling his eyes.

Adrien put his hand over his mouth to avoid chuckling at him.

Luka noticed, and smiled. He'd, unfortunately, had to repeat this class twice, thanks to recurring misadventures in particular times of year by his roommate Dennis, and that meant he was well familiar with this teacher's practiced speeches.

Familiar enough to recite the whole thing to entertain his new - but about equally troublesome, upon reflection - roommate.

' _One could even argue,_ ' Luka continued mouthing, with added pretentious pantomime. ' _That music is as old as sound itself, originating at the very beginning of time, for what is music, but organized sound?_ '

Adrien was trying very hard not to lose his composure. He had taken this class as an easy pass, as he'd learnt everything that this course covered back in home-school, and the fact that Luka was one of his classmates had only been a plus.

' _But this, my dear students, is not music philosophy_ ,' Luka said, looking snobbish. ' _But music **history** , the kind that most musicians only dream of making_.'

Luka took a little bow and Adrien gave him a nod and silent clap.

"Musicians… like Mr. Couffaine here," the professor said pointedly.

Every eye in the classroom turned on them, and Adrien watched as the color drained from Luka's face.

"I know that you're bored of this class, Mr. Couffaine, having taken it three times," the man down at the front of the room gestured. "But I also know your schedule by now, and you have Drama in three hours, so try to save the theatrics for a class where it will get you credit."

Luka shrunk in his seat, reached up to pull his hood over his head, and Adrien, offended on his roommate's behalf, turned on the teacher.

"It's two hours, actually, sir." Adrien corrected, looking at his watch, having become familiar with both Luka and Marinette's schedules in case of curse-related emergencies. "I'm curious as to how you became a history teacher with such a poor grasp on the progression of time."

The professor was dumbstruck, and the classmates all made noises and expressions of surprise.

Adrien leant on his desk, smug, because he knew the teacher couldn't do anything in retaliation thanks to their respective standings.

The teacher knew this too, and thus, his only subsequent action was to beckon the class to settle.

Luka looked at Adrien, as stunned as the others, and Adrien winked at him.

The blood in Luka's face returned all at once, turning his cheeks red.

If Adrien noticed the blush, he didn't show it. What he _did_ notice was when Luka's face started turning green instead.

As soon as the professor turned around, Adrien pointed to his own face with wide eyes.

Luka's eyes, already yellow and slitted, widened too, and he stole a subtle glance to the silver pendant on his wrist.

They were thankful his hood was up.

"Grab your stuff." Adrien hissed, shoving his books back into his bag.

Luka scrambled to do the same, his hands already turning green.

His partner in curse-bearing stole a glance at his waist, because if his tail was growing already growing in, they had to run.

But the little bit of skin peeking out between his jeans and his shirt while he frantically shoved notebooks and loose pens into his backpack was just Luka's regular shade of tan.

Of course, it wouldn’t be for much longer.

"We're going out the back door," Adrien whispered. "And to the bathroom down the hall."

Luka nodded, pulled his backpack on, and tugged his hood down a little further.

They ducked right up the stairs next to where they'd been sitting on the edge of their row, and most of the little ways up to the door before the professor called to them.

"Mr Couffaine, I hope Mr Jimenez hasn't seriously rubbed off on you enough for you to start skipping class this early in the year." the professor teased. "And, at the very least, if you're going to leave, let Mr Agreste stay so he doesn't have to take it with you next year as well."

"It's Jimenez Quintana." Luka grumbled, his tongue starting to flicker between his lips. "You want me to only say half of _your_ name, Professor Gunth-th-ther?"

"Luka's not feeling well," Adrien called down. "I'm going to take him back to the dorm."

"That's very noble of you, Mr Agreste, but can't he make it on his own?" Professor Gunther and the entire rest of the students were watching them.

Adrien looked to Luka, then back.

"No, I think I have to go with him." he told the professor.

"How do you know?" the professor argued.

Luka proceeded to lean over at the wall and vomit onto the floor.

A resounding 'ew' sound came from most of their classmates, and the Professor Gunther let them go.

Luka and Adrien basically ran out the door.

"Did you make yourself vomit?" Adrien asked as Luka handed him his bag and they rushed for the bathroom.

"Kind of?" Luka answered, removing his hoodie. "I was already feeling sick. I just had to hit myself in the gut."

They reached the door, but had to halt immediately as it opened from within.

A boy and a girl, holding hands and giggling, hurried out before them, and, without even looking around, sauntered off in the opposite direction.

For a moment, forgetting Luka's current predicament, the boys froze to ponder that.

"I wonder if th-th-they're gonna get away with-th-th th-th-that," Luka reached for the door with a clawed hand.

"Get away with what?" Adrien asked as he followed him in.

Luka had to stop mid-shirt-removal to look at him, and, upon realising Adrien may have genuinely not picked up on what those people had been doing, just blinked.

Someone else passed the first door into the bathroom, so Adrien pushed his reptilian roommate into the closest stall before they could be seen and both of them held their breath as footsteps sounded on the cheap tile.

Footsteps of two people. Accompanied by giggling.

" _Oh my god_." Luka breathed.

Adrien replied with a questioning look.

"Th-th-this is th-th-the bath-th-throom with-th-th th-th-the broken camera." Luka whispered, looking horrified. "People come here to…"

He trailed off as his hands began to grow bigger, and he panicked, removing his clothes faster.

The couple outside the stall scuffed their way into the stall two doors over, and clicked the lock.

"What are they doing?" Adrien put his bag on the floor.

Luka looked at him as if he'd asked what color the sky was.

Another giggle and some panting.

Adrien was struck with the realization of _exactly_ what they were doing, and went red.

Luka reached down to take his socks off, and stuffed them in his shoes, only to lose balance as he got closer to being twice his usual size.

"Quick, take my jeans off!" he hissed, flailing a bit to keep upright.

" _What_!" Adrien panicked.

"I can't get th-th-the zip with th-th-the claws and I can't lose another pair," the mostly-monster boy snarled. "Help me get them off."

"I can't believe this…" Adrien grumbled and rolled his eyes in exasperation as he reached for the fly.

There was a terribly, painfully awkward moment as Adrien pushed the jeans down past Luka's knees, where the girl in the other occupied stall moaned in pleasure, and both boys asked themselves how they managed to land themselves here in life. Of course, both knew it was Adrien's fault, but the feeling of existential remorse persevered.

Luka almost fell onto the toilet as he kicked off his jeans, which would have alerted the couple and possibly given them away, but Adrien caught him like someone might dip a partner in tango, and both held their breath again.

All they heard was more moaning.

Within a couple more seconds, the jeans were safe and Luka was growing a ten foot snake tail.

"I'm gonna text Marinette," Adrien whispered, and fished out his phone.

"What are you going to say?" Luka teased as he coiled his whole body as tightly and neatly as he could when he took up 90% of the stall space. "' _come meet us in th-th-the sex toilets it's an emergency, snake emoji_ '?"

"Alright." Adrien shrugged.

"No, w-" the snake boy protested, but Adrien had already sent it.

"Now what?" the blond asked.

"We wait." Luka sighed and pouted.

It was at this moment that the girl in the other stall moaned for the last time, and a rather disappointing grunt came from her companion.

"She sounds like a porn star." Adrien mumbled, red in the cheeks.

"Th-th-that's how you know she's faking." Luka stifled a snort.

"Girls fake during sex?" Adrien frowned.

"Yeah." his companion's yellow eyes rolled and he crossed his big scaly arms. "If th-th-they don’t th-th-think you'll both-th-ther trying to get th-th-them off, th-th-they'll just fake so you th-th-think you did okay and suffer in silence."

"That seems counter-productive." the blond blinked.

"Th-th-their hopes aren't high to begin with-th-th," Luka shrugged. "A lot of guys don't even care how th-th-their partner feels so long as th-th-they're getting off. Th-th-that's why I make it a point to put my partner first."

"Very noble of you…" Adrien frowned at him, meaning the words he'd spoken, just distracted by Luka's strange tongue.

He squished right up close to Luka's torso and squinted at his face. Luka, baffled, frowned back and looked him all over in confusion.

His forked tongue flickered out between his lips and Adrien zoomed in on it, curious.

Luka realised what it was Adrien was interested in and poked his tongue out.

Whatever his roommate was about to do in reaction was interrupted by the couple leaving the bathroom.

And someone else walking in.

The boys held their breaths again.

"Guys?" came a strained-sounding whisper of Marinette's voice.

Their shared sigh of relief was answer enough.

Adrien unlatched the stall door and opened it.

Marinette took one look at Luka, his whole snakey body squished into the walled space of the stall in the shape of a big teal cube so as to be hidden from every place a person could possibly peek in, and Adrien, caught between the stall wall and Luka's mass of coiled tail, holding two bags and a pile of clothing, and sighed deeply.

"We need to fix this as soon as possible." she shook her head and squeezed in with them.

The boys hummed and grumbled in agreement.

A couple of minutes later, when Luka was human and dressed and apologizing quietly, the three of them tried to sneak out of the bathroom.

Unbeknownst to them, a boy none of them had ever met noticed them, and immediately texted a bunch of his friends that two dudes and a really short Chinese girl had landed a threesome in the history block toilets.

===

"I'm tired." Marinette mumbled, shuffling the stack of papers she was hugging.

"Welcome to the club." Adrien yawned.

"Glad to be here." she giggled. "Are we ready for bed?"

"Yep. Your t-shirt will be on your doorstep in three-to-five business days." he chuckled and knocked his elbow to her shoulder gently, affectionately.

She yawned and leant into his side as they walked lazily back towards the dorms in the dark of the grounds.

"Are… are you coming back to our room?" Adrien asked.

"Sure, if there's an-" Marinette held up one hand's fingers to air-quote. " _'Emergency, insert animal emoji'_."

"Right, right," he rolled his eyes. "I hope that at least made you laugh."

"I had a panic attack in ComMar, Adrien."

"Oh, right, sorry."

"But… the text itself was pretty funny." she admitted.

"Luka suggested it." Adrien kicked a pebble.

"Ah." Marinette nodded, like that explained everything.

A little silence as they passed the obnoxious modern art statue on the grounds.

"But… if there _wasn't_ , you know, an emergency," he cleared his throat. "But I wanted you to come to my room anyway… what would you say?"

"I'd say I need to be in my room with my desk, my clothes and my bed if you want me to stay enrolled long enough to help you, doofus." Marinette answered teasingly.

Adrien wondered if it was worth correcting her, worth telling her that he'd missed her everyday presence since graduation; that spending a whole year without someone (and being an unwilling audience to a couple having sex in a public bathroom) makes you think about that someone in ways you didn't before; that he didn't just want her company, he wanted her attention, the special kind of attention that only she, being Marinette, could give, so badly that he would do anything to get it.

But before he could decide what to say, they were stopped by a group of young men.

"Hey there, little lady," one cooed, and immediately both companions were put on edge. "Why don't you ditch this pretty boy and come hang out with some real men?"

"Oh, are there some around here?" Marinette snipped.

This knocked the group of men down a peg and had Adrien stifling a smile.

"At least four boys is better than one." the leader of the little group stepped toward them, and they switched right back to taking it seriously.

Marinette had been taking wushu with her mother for years and had handled flour bags heavier than these skinny skeeves, and Adrien had been going to gyms for modelling purposes since he was old enough to run on a treadmill, so he wasn't exactly weak, either… but two against four weren't great odds.

Unless, it occurred to Adrien, one of the two of them was a big scary monster.

"Hold my bag," he murmured in her ear as he dropped his belongings beside her foot. "I'll be right back." 

"Adrien?!" she hissed as he bolted into the bushes and trees.

"Looks like your little boyfriend's run off," something terrible glinted in the eyes of the men as they started toward her again. "Why don't you let us take you back to the dorm?"

Marinette panicked for real, holding her stack of papers tighter to her chest.

"Don't look so scared," another of the boys added. "We don't want to hurt you. That wouldn't be any fun, now, would it?"

She considered running, but it felt like she was rooted to the spot.

Thankfully, before they got much closer, something growled loudly from the trees.

Everyone froze, and Marinette breathed heavy.

"What the fuck was that?!" one of the boys hissed.

It was then that Adrien the giant cat monster leapt out of the dark garden area and into the space between Marinette and the group.

One screamed and ran, one fainted, one fell back and the last froze up as Adrien, on all fours, stalked toward them.

" _What is that thing_!?" the one on the ground yelped, smacking his passed out friend into waking.

Adrien leapt forward again, relishing the look of terror on the last boy standing as he bore down on him.

The two boys from the ground got up and ran as Adrien landed on the last, massive black paws on his chest, large sharp teeth bared, and as the boy stared, petrified with fear, the cat monster roared in his face.

The young man screamed and cried and squirmed, and Adrien was tempted to kill him, to close his jaws around that limp little fleshy neck and drag the body up a tree so that other hunters wouldn't find it and he could return to snack on it later, because this prey was slim pickings, but if he was smart, he could make it last before it rotted too bad-

" _ **ADRIEN**_!" Marinette yelled at him, snapping him from the thoughts.

Adrien blinked at the wailing man beneath him and immediately closed his threatening maw and backed off.

The young man scrambled up and bolted away, and Adrien turned to Marinette.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Are you?" she countered, a death grip on her papers. "That was scary, Adrien..."

"Sorry." his ears flickered backwards. "I… I don't know what came over me…"

Marinette bit her lip. She believed him.

Something was wrong, with more than just their bodies, and even if she didn't understand what, exactly, she could tell.

But there was no use making them feel bad for it, so she reached out to him and he padded over and rubbed his big furry face on her hand.

"Let's... get you back to your room." she swallowed, voice hollow, patting his shoulder and picking his bag up with her free hand.

Adrien nodded and walked back towards the trees and bushes.

"Let me grab my clothes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my favourite thing about no-miraculous aus is that you can have adrinette fused with all the non-bullshit parts of ladynoir and it's healthy and makes sense character wise :)
> 
> dennis's full name is dennis julian jimenez quintana and he will probably continue to be referenced but will probably not appear.
> 
> also yes i know luka's tongue makes it hard to read his dialogue thats the point lol
> 
> see u next time !!

**Author's Note:**

> i actually have like a whole plot planned for this bc i am so in love with this au you have no frickin idea
> 
> but i wont post it unless i know its wanted so
> 
> leave comments to let me know if you want to see more!!


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